Examine How Shakespeare Presents the Character of Friar Lawrence ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Examine how Shakespeare presents the character of friar Lawrence Romeo and Juliet In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare presents beggar Lawrence in many a(prenominal) ways, much(prenominal) as, a holy man, a perplexly record just now overly as a coward. beggar Lawrence is a key out instrument of draw within the be contriven he has good intentions but stopping points up helping fate to create tragedy. In the prototypical film the audience go to friar Lawrence in he is presented as macrocosm extremely experienceable.The audience agnise him gathering figurets and herbs and demonstrates his knowledge by facial expression For this macrocosm smelt, with that get out cheers every(prenominal)(prenominal) part cheers each part universe tasted, cincture alone senses with the heart. This line portrays the idea that each cure for an illness bum similarly be deadly if taken in the wrong way. This demonstrates his knowledge of plants, herbs and medicine. As vigorous as t his the Nurse enters one tantrum and praises Friar Lawrence for his good council by verbalize O, what learning is This emphasises the Friars knowledge and shows that otherwise characters slew him as intelligent.Secondly Shakespeare presents Friar Lawrence as non only organism a holy man but as being aware of the innovation or worldly clean. This is be at many points end-to-end the fulfill such(prenominal) as when Romeo comes to Friar Lawrences cell and the Friar can tell that Romeo hasnt been to sleep because he has been with a young woman. This is illustrated in the line Our Romeo hath non been to bed tonight. As well as this Friar Lawrence comments on how quickly Romeo falls in distinguish with one girl to the next by saying Young mens love then lies not unfeignedly in their hearts but in their eyes. This demonstrates that Friar Lawrence is aware that not all love is true. Further much, Friar Lawrence agrees to join Romeo and Juliet so hastily to ensure that th ey do not have agitate before marriage. This is proven in the lines We shall make short pee for by leaves, you shall not bond alone, bowl holy church incorporate 2 in one. This again emphasises how worldly wise Friar Lawrence is as he realises that girlish people do have sex before marriage and do not always worry astir(predicate) assurance and what religion has to say about their actions.Throughout the dictation Shakespeare as well presents Friar Lawrence as being a councillor and fatherly figure towards Romeo. This side is portrayed in many scenes and is proved in lines such as Thats my good son where Friar Lawrence is addressing Romeo as if he is his son. This is also illustrated in the line wisely and slow they set off that run fast. This shows that Friar Lawrence is visual perception Romeo grow up and make mistakes so that he can learn from them this is some social function a father would usually say about their own child.As well as this the start time Romeo greets Friar Lawrence Romeo uses the word father which proves to the audience that he perceives Friar Lawrence as a fatherly figure. Friar Lawrence come ins to be someone that Romeo can go to, to explore advice and guidance rather than speaking to his father. This highlights that in upper syndicate families the relationship mingled with parents and children is whitethornbe not as rigid as it is in lower class families. As well as having all of these characteristics Shakespeare also presents Friar Lawrence as being a respected man among other characters.We fill this in the final scene where the prince asks Friar Lawrence for his account of events, the line that proves this is then(prenominal) say at once what metre dost know in this. This illustrates to the audience that the Prince reckon and values Friar Lawrences view and opinion on events that have continuered. merely even though Friar Lawrence is presented as having lots of positive characteristics he also possesses some op pose ones, such as being slightly irresponsible. Examples of his irresponsibleness occur several times throughout the play, the first off example being when he first agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet by saying Ill thy assist be.This is an irresponsible thing to do because Friar Lawrence knows that he does not have either parents consent, he also knows that Romeo and Juliet only met the night before and therefore, may not be truly in love. Another example of Friar Lawrence being presented as irresponsible is when he agrees to run a bigamous marriage amongst Juliet and Paris, he tells Juliet to Give consent to marry Paris. This shows he is irresponsible because bigamous marriages are illegal and he is a priest so is supposed to hold out by the law.Furthermore, the plan Friar Lawrence comes up with to help Romeo and Juliet be together is not thought through fully and is in general irresponsible. This is proved in the lines Ill turn on a Friar with speed to Mantua, with my garner to thy lord, this is not thought through fully as how volition the Friar that is sent know where Romeo is in Mantua and how will Friar Lawrence know that Romeo has received the earn in time. The whole plan that Friar Lawrence comes up with is irresponsible as he is giving a 13 or 14 year old girl a remedy that will give her no pulse and make her appear dead, which could be potentially risky.Finally, at the end of the play we see Friar Lawrence being presented as behaving quite cowardly, which is a logical argument to what we see throughout the play when he risks his reputation by helping Romeo and Juliet to on the Q.T. marry. We see evidence of this when the Prince and his guards turn up in the final scene of the play and Friar Lawrence says Come go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay. This is cowardly behaviour because he is unforced to come up with a plan but then does not involve to face up to the consequences of it. Friar Lawrence is presented in many different ways throug hout the play by Shakespeare.It is apparent that in Friar Lawrences beginning scenes his more positive characteristics are presented to the audience, such as how knowledgeable, worldly wise, fatherly and respected he is. Whereas towards the end of the play the audience begins to see how irresponsible and cowardly Friar Lawrence can be. Despite his small amount of negative characteristics it is evident to the audience that Friar Lawrences intentions are good but because fate had everything mapped out tragedy occurred and there was zipper any of the characters could do to stop it.